Friday, 6 April 2012

With academic year coming to an end the final year students in various engineering and other degree colleges across the State are getting ready to step into a brand new world of jobs and careers.

Each summer, the final year students indeed reach a crucial crossroad where they have to take a decision as to whether they should continue with their studies or take up a job. It is also the time when most engineering students dream of joining a software company in the hope of taking a slice of the lucrative IT and ITES sector jobs.

For the students who study in top rung institutions like NITs, IITs and reputed colleges options of taking up a job becomes very easy. With most companies preferring these colleges for campus placements, the students from these colleges are set to join better jobs.

But for those who did not study in a better college or those who failed to land a plump job during campus placements, taking a decision proves to be a daunting task. Should they join whatever job that is available for them? Should they take up some course in proprietary software and then join a job? Or should they continue with their further studies? “Only about seven colleges in Hyderabad get campus placements nearing 100 percent. Most students from other colleges have to either take up courses in proprietary software or have to go for further studies,” Siddhartha Malempati of Forum for IT Professionals (ForIT) said. For those who do not have a job in hand by the end of campus placements, taking a decision becomes quite difficult, he said.

While most students prefer to join a short term course and join a software company, HR managers from reputed MNCs believe that going for higher education is also a better option.

“Doing a B. Tech is sufficient to get a job in India and all big companies have a mechanism to induct fresh graduates. But the problem lies in the fact that all big companies have a clear ranking of institutions,” a senior HR manager from a MNC says.

“Companies also choose the candidates for different streams based on the nature of work to be done and required skill proficiency, among others. For maintenance and support projects, companies usually hire non-engineering graduates and for software development and core projects they hire engineering graduates,” he explained. “So, for those who pass out from colleges, without many placement opportunities, it makes sense to pursue masters,” he opined.

But again the choice of institution selected to pursue one's masters is very important. “A student should join for a masters programme only from a reputed institution. Joining in a nondescript college or university for a master's degree will not fetch the desired results as companies view the institutions with a clear hierarchy,” the HR professional says.